CASE OF DENNIS GUNN.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 12074, 10 June 1920, Page 5

CASE OF DENNIS GUNN.

Per Press Association, AUCKLAND, Last Night. A petition for the reprieve of Dennis Gunn, who was convicted of the Ponsonby murder, is in circulation. A meeting of those in favour of a commutation of the sentence has also been held. At this meeting the spokesman contended that the evidence on which the Crown case rested was purely circumstantial, and was not sufficient for a decision involving a man's life. If the sentence were commuted in the terms suggested, and evidence casting any further light on the affair were discovered, it would not be too late for that evidence to enable a rectification, whereas execution of the capital sentence would mean the end of all things. The meeting carried a motion expressing the opinion that the evidence upon which the Crown case was based was not of a character sufficiently understandable to be satisfactory. The resolution sets out that the jury who convicted Gunn did so on evidence which they were unable to verify; that before any supposed incriminating evidence that is of a highly technical nature can be held to be conclusive, especially where the death penalty is involved, such evidence should be referred 'to disinterested expert opinion.